USM Professors Take First Runner-Up Award in Marketing Conference
Wed, 03/16/2022 - 03:41pm | By: Van Arnold
University of Southern Mississippi professors Dr. Wei Wang and Dr. Chris Croft recently
received the first runner-up award for the Association of Collegiate Marketing Educators
AxcessCapon Teaching Innovation Award at their annual conference in New Orleans earlier
this month.
Their research presentation “Innovating Teaching Practices in Marketing Education Through Collaborative Experiential Learning” detailed their fall 2021 cross-disciplinary teaching research project between their respective Hospitality & Tourism Management and Sport Management classes.
Presentation abstract:
Acquiring real-world experience is crucial in the classroom to assist marketing students in understanding innovations in hospitality and tourism management and sport management industry standards. This research project explored marketing students’ perceptions of how experiential learning activities change their perceptions of learning with cross-curricular teaching in hospitality and tourism management and sport management classes.
The class training was divided into four areas of Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory phases (1) abstract conceptualization, (2) active experimentation, (3) concrete experience, and (4) reflective observation. Innovative teaching practices were incorporated by instructors in five training sessions including project introduction, secondary major connection, arena site visit, hotel site visit, and reflection discussion. Student learning was assessed via reflection papers, qualitative interviews, and focus groups.
Summary information from instructors and students supported the research project to promote hospitality and tourism management and sport management curriculum development innovations. Understanding the importance of marketing in both majors specifically and jointly occurred at a high level. The collaboration project through experiential learning benefited students more fully understanding their own and the secondary major in addition to being better prepared for future career positions in their respective hotel and sport industries.